Resumen (otros idiomas)

This is an analytical study on the Spanish artistic exile to the Caribbean, mainly to the Dominican Republic and furthermore, stressing the artistic and cultural relationship that the refugees established. It is a contribution, through the figure of José Vela Zanetti, to the Spanish artistic exile in Latin America starting from the hypothesis that the creative projection of all these artists and the historic circumstances surrounding them, determined their work and had an impact in the trajectory of the art in these host countries. The overall objective of this thesis is analysing the artistic production of the exiled Spanish artists in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, with particular emphasis on the Dominican case and the painter José Vela Zanetti. Another objective of this research is the analysis of the link between the exiled artists and their host societies and their relationship with the immigrant collective established in each of them. In this sense, we can determine the artistic networks established, based on the participation of the Spanish creators in the cultural life of their host countries. Finally, we will take as a case study the figure of the artist from Burgos, José Vela Zanetti. His stay in the Dominican Republic made a lasting impression in this country’s artistic imaginary. The choice of this painter is based on his outstanding career in mural painting in the Dominican island and other Hispanic countries where he travelled to. To carry out the objectives of this research, the methodology has been centered firstly in offering a panoramic view of the exile in the Caribbean, up to the concrete case of each artist. Therefore, the approach to each of the political, social and cultural contexts that framed and conditioned the work of the Spanish creators has been fundamental. In this study, we have taken into account a very broad range of sources. Starting from a systematic collection of bibliography about the topic, to considering particular documentary archives, avoiding the artists’ works as essential source for research. Among the primary sources, we have included especialized publications (Congress acts, scientific publications, monographic publications and exhibition catalogues), along with epistolary and newspaper clippings. The latter include opinion articles, exhibition reports, correspondence, reviews and photographs. The testimony of the protagonists and the sources written by them, are at the core of this research. It is through the gathering of oral sources or the reading of memoirs, that we can understand situations and features in the artistic works that we could not otherwise...